Keep On Keepin’ On.

Today, I went to my first fertility testing appointment! We went in for a consultation back in January, and my husband tested in February – everything is fine with him – which means the ball is in my court! I took a blood test, and I’ll get the results back in a few days.

This cycle makes one year and a half for my husband and I on this journey of trying to get pregnant, and although I was hesitant at first, I think it will be nice to have some medical intervention! In the meantime, I found these entertaining (and true!) little quips about the things No One Told You about TTC (trying to conceive). You can read the entire list on the Two Week Wait website, which I’ve linked above. In addition, I put together a paraphrased list of my favorites!

What no one ever told you about trying to conceive…

1. That infertility is more common than you think.

2. That living your life in two-week increments would be the norm.

3. That your sex life would start to resemble a science experiment.

4. That you have no control over some of the goals you set.

5. That you will learn to speak in code (CM, BBT, EWCM, POAS, BFP/BFN, etc)

6. That there is nothing to aid conception in the water at work, despite what some may say.

7. That getting pregnant isn’t as easy as you were lead to believe in high school.

8. That you will stop fantasizing about having a baby, because it will stop making you happy.

9. That a pregnancy doesn’t always equal a baby.

10. That it doesn’t get easier, each cycle is harder than the last.

11. That this will be one of the hardest things you will ever have to go through.

I often wonder what I can do, if anything, to be an encouragement to other women who are living with infertility? I don’t think there is nearly as much open discussion about the issue as there should be. I’m not saying we should all post “I’m infertile!” on our Facebook statuses or anything, but I also don’t think we should be ashamed to admit it’s something that is happening. I don’t know anyone else in real life who has dealt with infertility. That’s probably not because those people don’t exist, but because they don’t talk about it.

On the bright side – every unsuccessful cycle is just one cycle closer to starting your own family! So, as some of the older generations of my family and community would say: